Konami is backing away from its plans to release a video game that was to authentically depict the Second Battle of Fallujah after receiving numerous protests from retired US troops, their families and citizens' groups.

Carphone Warehouse is continuing its blocking of union web sites, this time deciding that employees working at Tulketh Mill, Preston, don't need access to information hosted at the Carphoneworker website.

Fancy a TV tuner for your Mac or PC? Chances are you’ll be looking at a USB device, but there are limitations – the most obvious being it can only be used on one computer at a time. Offering an Ethernet alternative, SiliconDust’s HDHomeRun twin-tuner Freeview box can serve two computers with independent digital telly channels, and supports Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Interested? We were.

The Government minister responsible for intellectual property has ruled out a 'three strikes' law denying internet access to illegal file sharers. David Lammy said cutting off users was not "the right road" for UK law makers.

Apple is close to an agreement with Verizon Wireless to launch two new Apple products this year: a cut-down iPhone and a larger device dubbed a "media pad" - although they may not be much use to anyone outside the US.

The famed Pentagon Q-branch boffinry hothouse, DARPA, has unveiled another ambitious plan to further US military-technical dominance. It has given $400m to American weapons globocorp Lockheed to develop a solar-powered robot radar airship, able to lurk in the stratosphere for a year at a time, potentially tracking individual people walking about on the ground across areas 1200km wide.

When the Android-based SkyTone Alpha 680 tablet netbook appeared last week, we were disappointed to see that the pictures didn’t reveal anything about how Google’s OS looks and feels away from a mobile phone. But now we have two demo videos.

The internet has responded to the absolutely positively inevitable pandemic of swine flu with typical restraint and a decent sense of proportion, providing everything from context-sensitive maps to an iPhone application for those preparing to flee for the hills.

Researchers have already tried to overcome the lack of physical feedback on touchscreens by adding on vibration and sounds. But boffins at one university have developed a touchscreen display that literally sports pop-up buttons.

Firefox developers are considering ditching support for Mac OS X 10.4 sometime after the organisation ships its successor to Firefox 3.5 next year, despite accepting that users will be "pissed off" about the move.

As more diverse powerline Ethernet products come to market, the practicalities of using mains wiring for networking become ever more apparent. The Solwise VeseNET 200AV HomePlug AV adaptor is good example of how this system can serve locations that are too costly to be hardwired with Ethernet ports or where wireless networking fails to reach.

David Blunkett is to press national security officials to impose a programme of ongoing testing on equipment BT bought from Huawei, the networking manufacturer with allegedly close links to the Chinese military.

A Tyne and Wear woman was yesterday remanded in custody for allegedly breaking an ASBO which required her not to annoy the neighbours by indulging in vociferous romps with her husband, the Telegraph reports.

A London gym is offering decent, hard-working citizens the chance to fight back against the hooded hordes of chavdom by administering alcopop-crazed yoof a righteous thrashing - courtesy of its "Chav Fighting" classes.

Firing small sponge rockets at passing colleagues is all well and good, but if they spot you reaching for the firing button before you’ve deployed a projectile then the jig’s up. But not anymore, because an iPhone-based firing controller’s been designed.

The pork industry is a little bit upset that the "swine flu" tag attached to the terrifying mutated H1N1 death virus, currently making short work of journalistic common sense worldwide, might hit sales hard.

National news outlets, citing "secret" Ministry of Defence (MoD) documents, are reporting that "serious safety breaches" and "leaks of liquid radioactive waste" have occurred at the Faslane nuclear submarine base. It's sort of true, but one would release many times more radioactive material into the Clyde by dropping a luminous watch into it.

European BlackBerry users got an unexpected afternoon off today as the service stopped delivering mail from soon after lunch, forcing them to pay attention in meetings and, in some cases, speak to people.

WowWee’s Rovio Mobile webcam’s fine if you only want to know that a fire’s started at home while you’re away. But one modder’s gone the extra mile by updating the home security droid with a fire extinguisher.

With rival and former fiancée Sun Microsystems reporting its what are sure to be embarrassing financial results later today, today is a perfect day for IBM to rub it in extra hard. So Big Blue has announced it is boosting its dividend, while allocating another $3bn to buying back its own shares.

Once again, Adobe is scouring its Reader application for bugs following reports that it's susceptible to two vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to remotely execute malicious code on end-users' machines.

Sometimes, you call the tune, and sometimes, you have to face the music. Or you can do what the top brass at Sun Microsystems did today and simply not host a conference call to explain financial performance in its third quarter of fiscal 2009 ended in March. Sun just posted a press release and some slides - sans quotes from president and chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz or chairman Scott McNealy.

As part of a Dynamic Infrastructure hardware, software, and services announcement blitz today, IBM announced that it has put its Power6+ processor into entry and midrange Power Systems rack servers while delivering a more scalable Power6+ blade server that resembles the clever design Big Blue has used for several years on Opteron-based blades.